#13

Still, I walked and walked. My toes and the tops of my feet were blistered from the slippers, but I didn’t care. The problem wasn’t the wounds or the blisters. My body wasn’t what it used to be. Due to the lazy life spent sitting idly in the house, my stamina had rapidly declined. As time passed, the once bearable pain in my feet began to scream. I had fallen so many times that my clothes and hair were a mess. Just as I started to worry foolishly that I might be mistaken for a spy and shot, I encountered a light.

As I got closer, I saw it was a small farm shed. I knocked on the door, but there was no response. The door wasn’t open either. It had only a flimsy frog lock, so I could easily break in with a stone. But I couldn’t walk any further anyway.

I must be crazy.

I regretted escaping so late.

As I looked around for a stone, the door opened.

“Who are you?”

It was an elderly man in his underwear. He could have been surprised to see me, but he looked quite at ease. He yawned widely and scratched his belly.

Should I ask to stay for just one night?

But contrary to my thoughts, another question slipped out.

“I’m trying to get to Dongjam-ri. Is this the right direction?”

“Dongjam-ri? That’s the opposite way.”

Damn it. It seemed I had come from the wrong direction. All my motivation was crushed.

“How did you get here?”

I pointed with my finger in the direction I had come from. The old man looked me over and shook his head.

“You need to go further. All the way to the top.”

I had already walked for at least three hours, and now I had to walk more? It was maddening.

Whatever, I don’t care anymore.

“Can I come in for a moment?”

I boldly opened the door and stepped inside. The old man casually moved aside. The smell of alcohol was overwhelming.

“It’s cramped.”

“I’m fine.”

As I entered the warm space, my tension melted away. My blistered feet hurt more than I could have imagined.

I plopped down in a space barely big enough for one person and took off my slippers. The skin on the tops of my feet was raw and red. The old man clicked his tongue and rummaged through a medicine box.

“You need to put some red medicine on that.”

He dabbed some povidone on a cotton ball and applied it to my wounds. A groan escaped me without my realizing it. It stung and burned, but at the same time, it felt incredibly good.

“You have quite a bit of patience for a young person.”

The old man, who had been squatting and watching, complimented me.

“Put on a bandage too.”

“Yes.”

“Can you give me something to drink?”

“Please give me some water.”

“All I have is alcohol.”

“That’s fine too.”

The old man’s face lit up. I could see a sense of relief that he had found an excuse to drink.

He opened a glass jar the size of his torso from the corner and poured some alcohol into a kettle. It looked like he had brewed it himself, as the jar was filled with either ginseng or some kind of root. Without any side dishes, he brought over a metal kettle and two cups and set them in front of me.

I downed a cup full of alcohol in one go. The old man, excited, also took a big swig. Without asking anything, he poured more alcohol into my empty cup. After downing three or four more cups, I couldn’t resist the drowsiness that washed over me and fell asleep right there. I had no idea what kind of person the old man might be—he could be a spy or a murderer—but I didn’t know what gave me the courage to fall asleep.

My sleep was short and restless. Despite my body being exhausted, I woke up after just over an hour, and even then, I was tormented by dreams of that two-story house. I realized I would never sleep soundly again. I resigned myself to that fact.

As I prepared to leave, I looked at the old man snoring loudly at my feet. He had been snoring just moments ago, but now he sat up as if he had never been asleep.

“Are you leaving?”

“Yes.”

I carefully slipped my slippers on my sore feet. The old man, who had been watching quietly, asked, “Do you want to borrow some socks?”

“If you have any.”

“I do. They have holes, but is that okay?”

“Of course.”

The old man rummaged through a pile of trash and pulled out some socks.

Setting aside the holes, the socks were too small for my large feet. Still, they weren’t so bad that I couldn’t wear them, so I squeezed my feet into them. With the poorly fitting, holey socks, slippers, and my gray tracksuit covered in dirt and grass stains, I looked like a beggar.

“What’s your name, sir?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Since you’ve helped me, I should repay you.”

“If you say you’re the old drunkard from Namchon-ri, everyone will know.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Repay me with alcohol.”

“Yes, I will definitely do that.”

As I received the old man’s farewell, I climbed back up the mountain.

Following the old man’s directions, when I reached the top, a vast expanse of fields spread out before me. After catching my breath for a moment, I followed the sign toward Dongjam-ri.

Climbing the mountain in slippers was madness. The socks I had forced on had already come off. The bandage on the top of my foot had fallen off, and new blisters had formed on my feet and toes, which were coated in povidone.

By the time I arrived in front of the man’s house, it was well past sunrise. My feet were a complete mess. I wasn’t bleeding, but the red medicine made it look like I was covered in blood.

I sat down in front of the green gate. I couldn’t have been more relieved to see the old, shabby gate. At the same time, I cursed myself for doing something so foolish.

The man who got out of the truck looked as if he had seen a ghost.

“What time did you leave? I’ve been waiting since 8 AM, and you just now show up.”

I dusted myself off and stood up.

The man was shirtless, just like when I saw him two days ago, with a towel around his neck. It seemed he didn’t usually work with his shirt off, as the contrast between his deeply tanned short sleeves and his lighter brown torso was striking.

The man’s gaze traveled from my clothes down to my feet. His brow furrowed.

“Oh, this? I got a bit hurt.”

“…Hospital.”

“It’s not that serious.”

A silence fell between us.

Since I was standing at the gate, the man couldn’t enter his own house. We stood facing each other like gunmen about to duel.

At that moment, a blue Damas rattled up. The road was rough, and the vehicle was so rickety that it looked like it might tip over at any moment. Before the Damas had even come to a stop, a child jumped out.

“Yoon Ji-hye! Didn’t your uncle tell you to wait until the car stopped before getting out?”

A head popped out of the driver’s seat, and a high-pitched voice, like that of a boy who had just hit puberty, shouted at the child. The child turned around and stuck out her tongue, then waved at the man. Until I heard the child’s name, I hadn’t even considered she might be his daughter.

That was understandable, as the child had grown quite a bit. With a short haircut like a boy’s and wearing clothes typically worn by boys, she didn’t look like a girl at all. Her white sneakers were clean but so worn that I wondered if it was okay for her to be wearing them.

“Dad!”

“Are you hungry? Let’s go inside.”

The child, who was tanned to a deep brown, smiled brightly, revealing her unusually white teeth. Then, upon seeing me standing across from her, she flinched and hesitated. Her curious eyes remained fixed on me.

“Are you a beggar?”

I heard the child cautiously ask the man.

A beggar?

I felt a surge of anger for a moment, but then I looked at my own appearance and quickly accepted it.

A slender man got out of the Damas. He had a rather handsome face and was dressed in the latest style popular in Gangnam. Just like the child, he scrutinized me from head to toe, wary.

“Who are you?”

The man from the Damas asked.

“I’m Kim Tae-heun, and I’ve come to stay at Yoon Ki-beom’s house.”

Upon my introduction, the man from the Damas acknowledged me with an “Ah.” His face didn’t show any warmth. His gaze shifted to my feet, and he frowned. Instead of speaking to me, he turned his back to let the child into the gate.

The child, having heard my introduction, looked up at the man and asked, “Already? Are you really going to live with that uncle?”

“Uh, yes, but I don’t know the date yet.”

“But why did you come?”

“Well… just go inside first.”

The man stammered, not knowing why I had come. The child pouted and went into the house.

“Good job, Yong-jun.”

“What? Are you ignoring me?”

“It’s not that. A guest has come….”

The man’s attitude was more relaxed than when I first visited.

“Please go in first.”

The man gestured toward the gate, telling me to enter.

Standing awkwardly, I gladly followed the child inside.

“Man-su! Mu-gang! Have you been playing well?”

The child screamed almost like a shriek, calling for the dogs. Their names seemed to be Man-su and Mu-gang. I chuckled, but the dogs began to growl at me, standing behind the child.

“Hey, tie up the dogs. They’re going to bite me.”

I referred to myself as “older brother.”

The child looked up at me with a bewildered expression.

“You must be Ji-hye. Let’s get along. From now on, call me older brother.”

I smiled, matching the child’s eye level.

The child looked at me seriously and then said, “You’re a fool.” Surprised by the unexpected remark, I burst into laughter. I laughed so hard that I almost spat, but quickly composed myself. I lowered my voice and said sternly.

“Yoon Ji-hye, where did you learn to say that? Did your father teach you to say that to adults?”

The child’s previously confident face turned pale with embarrassment. It seemed my question had struck a nerve.

“My dad doesn’t use that kind of language!”

The child shouted.

“Then? Did the uncle in the Damas teach you that? An adult shouldn’t be teaching such things. I should go out and have a word with him.”

“Hey, don’t say that! I learned it from my friends!”

She was still young. The child stood in front of me with a look that suggested she might cry at any moment. Clenching her fists in anger, she glared at me. The man didn’t seem to have any intention of coming inside, as he was still talking to the Damas.